According to people familiar with the development, Byju’s has made a payment of Rs 123.1 crore to the EPFO for the 10-month period, while committing to pay the remaining arrears of Rs 3.43 crore within a couple of days.
“EPFO had observed a shortfall in payment with respect to Think & Learn through its digital returns. However, following a directive from EPFO, the compliance has reportedly been made by the establishment up to May 2023 and the remaining compliance is being monitored and verified,” said one of the people.
Several former employees of Byju’s had accused the company of not depositing the provident fund component of their salaries in the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account despite the same being deducted. This, according to them, led to a breach of trust under the Indian Penal Code.
Under the Employee Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, a company should deposit the provident fund money for a month by the 15th of the next month.
Any delay would attract penal interest of 12% of the dues and damages which could range from 5% to 25% depending on the tenure of delay from two months to six months, but capped at 100%, along with even prosecution in some cases.
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Under the Act, employees have the right to file a complaint with the EPFO against the employer for delayed payments. The EPFO system also throws up a list of defaulters on a monthly basis.